Guidelines for new entries

From Clavis Canonum

If you are interested to add a collection to the database, please do get in touch. This page contains some basic information what it takes to prepare a collection for the Clavis database.

Which data do we need?

The data model of the Clavis canonum database is the result of the fairly long history of the project. The following fields are needed:

  • Key: The first two letters are the siglum of the respective collection, followed by a running number. If collections are divided into books, use a digit to separate book number and canon number (BU02.001 = first canon in book two of Bruchard's Liber decretorum), if not, not (TC001 = canon 11 in TC). One can also have further subdivisions (GR1.032.06.001 = first canon in Gratian, D.32 c.6)
  • Coll. = Short name of the collection
  • Location: Folio, page, or column the beginning of the individual canon is found.
  • Link: Where possible, we add a page-specific link to the digital image of the page in question. If there are no page-specific link, leave this field empty.
  • Author group: Siglum of the relevant author group, based on the inscription (whether or not this information is factually correct). Note that popes of the same name are but one author group (1GR = all canons attributed to a Pope Gregory). See the list of all sigla.
  • Inscription: The inscription as found in the base manuscript/print.
  • Incipit: The first six words of a canon
  • Explicit: The last three words

If you cannot provide data for one or more of these fields, just leave them empty. If you are uncertain about the author group in particular, please do contact us, we are happy to help.

How to transmit the data

The easiest way is to put this data in a Google spreadsheet and insert the link in the relevant article.

For a model, see the spreadsheet we prepared when entering Friedberg's edition into the database: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lJ8Ht66ka7PuKNwQSZhVMCsIPkC1lXCRiwowi20qsK0/edit#gid=0

Standardisation of the Latin

In general, as the database is single-manuscript based, it is best to follow the manuscript (or edition) in question. Linda Fowler-Magerl very moderately standardised the Latin (U/V, no J) of the collections she transcribed. She was, however, consistent in omitting all puctuation, and we have followed her when adding new collections to the database (notably Gratian's Decretum). Also, all Roman numbers should be given in Arab numbers instead. Abbreviations are silently expanded, however with one important exception: in the inscription only, the very common abbreviations CAP, CON, EP, LIB, TIT for all forms of capitulum, concilium, episcopus, liber and titulus should be preserved as such (not expanded). If you only start a project, have a look at a collection in the database similar to the one you are working on, and please do contact Danica or Christof.

Description of the collection

In preparation of the addition of a new collection, please create a description page (or ask Christof to create one) if there is not already one in the long list Description of the collections. Ideally, the page title should follow the guidelines laid out here.